General Issues
SOCIAL THEORY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
Academic Dependency in the Social Sciences. Structural Reality and Intellectual Challenges. Ed. by Kathinka Sinha-Kerkhoff (and) Syed Farid Alatas. Manohar [etc.], New Delhi [etc.] 2010. 333 pp. Rs. 995.00.
The papers in this volume, based on a conference held in Patna in 2008, address questions of theoretical and practical academic dependency among social scientists based in the South. Though all scholars in this book consider academic dependency to be a problem, they take different views of what constitutes academic dependency, what its manifestations are, and how to search for autonomous, non-Eurocentric social science. The editors stress that the call for alternative discourses is not simultaneously an appeal for nativism or reverse orientalism.
Alfred Schutz and his intellectual partners. Ed. by Hisashi Nasu, Lester Embree, George Psathas [etc.]. UVK Verlagsgesellschaft, Konstanz 2009. vi, 596 pp. € 59.00.
This volume brings together twenty-nine essays, most of which were first presented at a conference held at Waseda University, Tokyo, in April 2004, about the Austrian-born philosopher Alfred Schutz (1899–1959) and his relationship with or reading of Max Weber, Edmund Husserl, Henri Bergson, Felix Kaufmann, Martin Heidegger, Ernst Cassirer, Georg Simmel, Talcott Parsons, Jean-Paul Sartre, Tomoo Otaka, Fritz Machlup and others.
Anderson, Kevin B. Marx at the Margins. On Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Non-Western Societies. University of Chicago Press, Chicago [etc.] 2010. ix, 319 pp. $22.50; £14.50.
In this volume the author analyses Marx's writing on non-Western and pre-capitalist societies that were mostly peripheral to capitalism during Marx's lifetime (India, Russia, Algeria, China) and on oppressed nationalities and ethnic groups (Poland, Ireland, Irish workers in Britain and blacks in the United States) and their relationship to the democratic and labour movements in the main capitalist countries. Professor Anderson in particular examines lesser-known writings by Marx, such as his journalistic work for the New York Tribune and his 1879–1882 notebooks.
Atkinson, Will. Class, Individualization and Late Modernity. In Search of the Reflexive Worker. [Identity Studies in the Social Sciences.] Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke [etc.] 2010. £55.00.
Recent sociological theory has called into question the ability of “class” to explain patterns of difference and inequality. Citizens of contemporary Western societies are said to be not merely “affluent” workers but also “reflexive” workers living in an environment where they must actively think and choose how to live, what to value, and what to become. Class, in this view, no longer shapes behaviour, values, views, and identities. By examining the educational experiences, work histories, lifestyles, perceptions, and politics of the participants, the author puts this perspective to the test and concludes that reflexivity is largely absent, and that class differences and inequalities persist.
Franke, Bernd. Sklaverei und Unfreiheit im Naturrecht des 17. Jahrhunderts. [Sklaverei, Knechtschaft, Zwangsarbeit, Band 5.] Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim [etc.] 2009. ix, 337 pp. € 58.00.
This dissertation (University of Trier, 2008) explores the issue of slavery as it figured in natural law debates in the seventeenth century. Dr Franke argues that in the early modern period natural law functioned as an ethical benchmark beyond legal regulations. In this study he compares natural law views of slavery and other forms of unfreedom in the works of philosophers such as Francisco Suárez, Hugo Grotius, Samuel Pufendorf, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke.
Klooger, Jeff. Castoriadis. Psyche, Society, Autonomy. Foreword by Dick Howard. [Social and Critical Theory, Vol. 6.] Brill, Leiden [etc.] 2009. xiv, 346 pp. € 121; $179.
This is one of the first studies in English of the philosophical basis of the work of the Greek-French philosopher, economist, and social theorist Cornelius Castoriadis (1922–1997), co-founder of the Socialisme ou Barbarie periodical and group (see IRSH, 49 (2004), p. 541, and 53 (2008), p. 152). Dr Klooger introduces and critiques the main concepts of Castoriadis’ work and their underlying philosophical principles, including issues such as the distinction between autonomy and heteronomy, the nature of the self and self-creation and its relation to society, and the ontological problems related to the nature of determination in a fundamentally indeterminate universe.
Über Marx hinaus. Arbeitsgeschichte und Arbeitsbegriff in der Konfrontation mit den globalen Arbeitsverhältnissen des 21. Jahrhunderts. Hrsg. von Marcel van der Linden und Karl Heinz Roth. Unter Mitarb. von Max Henninger. Assoziation A, Berlin [etc.] 2009. 605 pp. € 29.80.
This volume comprises twenty essays by authors from heterodox leftist analytical traditions who explore to what extent Marx's analysis of global capitalism may still be of use for a critical theory of the capitalist world system and its recent crisis, as the renewed interest in his work suggests. Nine contributions focus on the major findings of recent global labour history research in this respect; another nine essays offer critical theoretical and conceptual discussions focusing on Marx's labour value theory. In the concluding contribution, the editors bring the criticisms together in advancing a suggested new critique of political economy.
Veyne, Paul. Foucault. His Thought, His Character. Polity, Cambridge [etc.] 2010. vi, 194 pp. £50.00. (Paper: £15.99.)
This is the English translation of Foucault: Sa pensée, sa personne (Paris, 2008), an intellectual portrait of the French philosopher and social theorist Michel Foucault (1926–1984), by his friend, the French archaeologist and historian Paul Veyne. In this short biographical study, Professor Veyne analyses Foucault as a sceptic and Nietzschean, acknowledging no transcendent principles as the foundation of truth, and his philosophy as “an empirical kind of anthropology with a coherence of its own”, of which “the originality is founded on a historical critique”. See also Mischa Suter's review in this volume, pp. 113–115.
HISTORY
Abolitionism and Imperialism in Britain, Africa, and the Atlantic. Ed. by Derek R. Peterson, [Cambridge Centre of African Studies Series]. Ohio University Press, Athens 2010. ix 235 pp. $64.95. (Paper: $28.95.)
The aim of this volume about abolitionism and political thought is to demonstrate that the abolition of the slave trade was not the singular achievement of eighteenth-century British liberalism but a “theatre”, in which slaves, African rulers, Caribbean planters, working-class radicals, and British evangelicals all played a part. The six contributors focus on African leaders’ participation in the slave trade; the reasons why Britain outlawed her slave trade; eighteenth-century abolitionists’ schemes for free labour in West Africa; abolitionism in the West Indies; Sierra Leone as a utopian experiment in free labour; international law and British suppression of the Atlantic slave trade; and echoes of abolitionism in twentieth-century Zanzibar.
The Age of Revolutions in Global Context, c.1760–1840. Ed. by David Armitage and Sanjay Subrahmanyam. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke [etc.] 2010. xxxii, 301 pp. £50.00.
This volume, largely based on a conference held in Los Angeles in May 2008 about the dynamics of global and regional change between 1760 and 1840, features ten articles focusing on the American Revolution and the issue of slavery; the international impact of French revolutionary ideas and wars; the American loyalist and French emigré diasporas; the Spanish and Portuguese empires in the South Atlantic; the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa in the Age of Revolutions; Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and Euro-Muslim creolization; and the repercussions of the European revolutions and crises in South Asia, Java, and China.
Anarchism and Syndicalism in the Colonial and Postcolonial World, 1870–1940. The Praxis of National Liberation, Internationalism, and Social Revolution. Ed. by Steven Hirsch [and] Lucien Van der Walt. [Studies in Global Social History, Vol. 6.] Brill, Leiden [etc.] 2010. lxxiii, 431 pp. Ill. € 109.00; $155.00.
Anarchism and syndicalism, according to the editors, were from their beginning conceived and developed as international movements. By focusing on the neglected cases of the colonial and postcolonial world from 1870 to 1940, this volume explores the global dimension of these movements and their importance in anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles. Ten case studies analyse the ideology, structure, and praxis of anarchism/syndicalism in Egypt, South Africa, Korea, China, Ukraine, Ireland, Peru, the Caribbean, the southern United States, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil. The volume concludes with a reflection by the editors on anarchist and syndicalist trajectories from 1940 to the present.
Anarchism and Utopianism. Ed. by Laurence Davis and Ruth Kinna, Manchester University Press, Manchester [etc.] 2009, xvi, 285 pp. $90.00.
The fourteen essays in this collection explore the relationship between anarchism and utopianism. The volume opens with an historical and philosophical survey and goes on to examine two “antecedents” of the anarchist literary utopia: Lao Zi's Daodejing and Diderot's Supplément au voyage de Bougainville. Four contributions evaluate the anarchist utopian imagination in nineteenth- and twentieth-century British and North and Latin American literature; three others trace the links and tensions between sexual and social radicalism, for example in late nineteenth-century Britain and in the United States in the late 1960s. The final three essays analyse utopian thought in contemporary anarchist revolutionary practice.
The Ashgate Companion to the History of Textile Workers, 1650–2000. Ed. by Lex Heerma van Voss, Els Hiemstra-Kuperus, [and] Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk. Ashgate, Farnham 2010. xxiii, 836 pp. Maps. £75.00.
This volume, originating from a comparative research project undertaken by the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam, offers a systematic global and comparative history of textile workers. The first part features twenty histories of textile workers in various regions selected to cover the major producers of woollen and cotton fabrics and to reflect the diversity of global experience. The second part contains nine comparative articles on various topics related to the position of textile workers, including global trade; the organization of production; spatial division of labour; ethnicity and migration; working conditions and international competition; gender and the global textile industry; identities and self-imagery within the global textile workforce; and guilds and trade unions in textile production.
Bridging the Early Modern Atlantic World. People, Products, and Practices on the Move. Ed. by Caroline A. Williams. Ashgate, Farnham [etc.] 2009. xiv, 261 pp. Ill. Maps. £55.00.
The ten essays in this volume, based on a symposium held in Bristol in September 2005, explore how peoples of the early modern Atlantic world adapted to and were changed by their interactions with previously unknown goods, institutions, and ideas. Some chapters examine the experience of Europeans, such as the Scottish pioneers of Darien and the Jewish refugees from Dutch Brazil who settled in the island of Nevis. Others focus on populations that Europeans enslaved or among whom they settled – for example, the Tupi peoples of Brazil and the Kriston women of the West African port of Cacheu.
Burguière, André. The Annales School. An Intellectual History. Transl. from the French by Jane Marie Todd. Forew. by Timothy Tackett. Cornell University Press, Ithaca [etc.] 2009. xiv, 309 pp. $45.00; £24.95.
This retrospective of the French history journal Annales d'histoire économique et sociale and the group and historiographical school that emerged around it in the twentieth century is the English translation of L’école des Annales: Une histoire intellectuelle (2006). Professor Burguière, for years secretary of the journal and today a member of its editorial board, explores the origins and evolution of the Annales journal and school and their relation to other historical currents, portrays the key figures involved, and analyses the long-term contributions of the Annales school in the evolution of socio-economic and socio-cultural historiography in the twentieth century.
Burnham, John C. Accident Prone. A History of Technology, Psychology, and Misfits of the Machine Age. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago [etc.] 2009. viii, 328 pp. Ill. $40.00; £27.50
In this analysis of the emergence, growth and decline of the concept of accident proneness (the tendency of a particular person to have more accidents than most people) from the early 1920s to the late twentieth century, Professor Burnham reveals a shift in social strategy toward minimizing industrial and traffic accidents: where once safety policy makers, in addition to applying physical safety measures, attempted to educate and discipline people to behave safely, from the 1960s onwards, the idea of accident proneness, with the rise of the insurance industry, gradually declined, and engineers developed new technologies to protect all people.
Contested Histories in Public Space. Memory, Race, and Nation. Ed. by Daniel J. Walkowitz, and Lisa Maya Knauer. Duke University Press, Durham [etc.] 2009. viii, 365 pp. Ill. £18.99.
This volume brings together thirteen essays about history in public spaces, museums, monuments, texts, and festivals around the world, from Paris to Cuba, from the United States to South Africa, from London to Kathmandu, and from Oaxaca to Wellington. Focusing on how race and empire are involved in the creation and display of national narratives, the contributing historians, anthropologists, and other scholars analyse representations of contested histories, for example at a British Library exhibition on the East India Company, in the Ellis Island immigration museum, and in high-school history textbooks in Ecuador.
Faroqhi, Suraiya. Artisans of Empire Crafts and Craftspeople Under the Ottomans. [Library Ottoman Studies.] I.B. Tauris, London [etc.] 2009. xxvii, 276 pp. Ill. £49.50.
This history of crafts, craftsmen and craftswomen in the Ottoman Empire aims to give a comprehensive overview of the social, cultural, and economic development of crafts and artisans and their organizational structures in urban Ottoman society from the beginning of the sixteenth to the early twentieth century. Comparing Ottoman artisans with those of Catholic and Protestant Europe in her concluding chapter, Professor Faroqhi explores the similarities and differences between the guild organizations, their respective roles, and the changes they experienced.
Horne, Gerald. Mau Mau in Harlem? The U.S. and the Liberation of Kenya. [Contemporary Black History.] Palgrave Macmillan, New York [etc.] 2009. x, 323 pp. Ill. £57.00.
This study explores the involvement of the United States in the development of Kenya from the period of the British colonial regime in the late nineteenth century through the Mau Mau rebellion in the 1950s and the country's independence in 1963. Professor Horne, who recently published a study of US involvement in the West Indies (see IRSH, 54 (2009), pp. 313f.), aims to show how African Americans were particularly attracted to Kenya, where the course of events seemed to mirror their own experiences with racism and segregation.
The Pacific in the Age of Early Industrialization. Ed. by Kenneth L. Pomeranz. [The Pacific World, vol. 11.] Ashgate, Farnham 2009. liv, 379 pp. £82.50.
This volume on the industrialization of the Pacific brings together fifteen previously published articles on themes ranging from textile manufacturing to engineering and from rubber industries to trade networks. The geographic scope covers Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Malaya, China, and Chile. The volume opens with a forty-page introduction by the editor and a supplementary bibliography. In the first essay the European and East Asian “miracles” are compared. One of the volume's aims is to show how the Pacific was developing independently between 1800 and 1945, rather than merely being influenced by changes elsewhere.
Robertson, Emma. Chocolate, women and empire. A social and cultural history. [Studies in Imperialism.] Manchester University Press, Manchester [etc.] 2009. xiii, 249 pp. Ill. £60.00.
This book studies the different stages in chocolate production from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century. Examining the involvement of chocolate firms such as Rowntree, Cadbury, and Fry in cocoa farming in British West Africa, women's experiences with cocoa farming in British colonies and former colonies in the West Indies and West Africa, chocolate manufacturing by York-based Rowntree and experiences of women workers on the Rowntree shopfloor, and analysing chocolate advertisements, the author illuminates the dynamics of gender, race, and empire that have structured the cocoa chain.
Rodgers, Gerry B., Eddy Lee, Lee Swepston and JasmienVanDaele. The International Labour Organization and the quest for social justice, 1919–2009. International Labour Office, Geneva 2009. xv, 272 pp. S.fr. 50.00; $50.00; £35.00; € 35.00.
This general history of the origins, key ideas, and policies of the International Labour Organization (ILO) has been published in recognition of the organization's ninetieth anniversary. After a general overview of the ILO, four chapters deal with central themes of the organization's activities over the past century: human rights, quality of work, income protection and employment, and poverty reduction. The last chapter focuses on present-day international social policy as developed in the Decent Work Agenda. Appendices included offer a chronology, a selection of documents, and a selected bibliography for additional reading.
Rodríguez García, Magaly. Liberal Workers of the World, Unite? The ICFTU and the Defence of Labour Liberalism in Europe and Latin America (1949–1969). [Trade Unions Past, Present and Future, Vol. 5.] Peter Lang, Oxford [etc.] 2010. xvi, 338 pp. € 45.50.
In this book Dr Rodríguez García analyses the functions of international free trade unions during the first two decades of the Cold War, focusing on the European Regional Organisation (ERO) and the Inter-American Regional Workers’ Organization (ORIT), established in the early 1950s as regional branches of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). She argues that social-democratic and reformist trade unions, which accounted for the bulk of ICFTU members, were fundamentally shaped by liberal values. See also Anthony Carew's review in this volume, pp. 120–123.
Slavery, diplomacy and empire. Britain and the suppression of the slave trade, 1807–1975. Keith Hamilton and Patrick Salmon. Sussex Academic Press, Brighton [etc.], 2009. 229 pp. Ill. £49.95.
The nine contributions to this volume are based on papers presented at a seminar organized in London on the occasion of the bicentenary of the British 1807 act abolishing the slave trade within the British Empire. The contributing specialists in international, naval, and slave trade history explore, for example, the role of individuals and institutions in the abolition of the slave trade and the difficulties experienced by British diplomats in reconciling moral objections to slavery with British imperial and strategic interests in various parts of the world. In the final chapter, Suzanne Miers examines how forms of slavery have changed over the course of the twentieth century.
Die Sowjetunion und die Dritte Welt. UdSSR, Staatssozialismus und Antikolonialismus im Kalten Krieg 1945–1991. Hrsg. von Andreas Hilger. [Schriftenreihe der Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, Band 99]. R. Oldenbourg Verlag, München 2009. 293 pp. € 24.80.
The thirteen case studies in this volume about Soviet Russia's Third World policy focus on the Soviet Union in the Middle East in 1948 and 1967; the Indo-China conference in Geneva in 1954; Soviet development policies in Egypt in the 1950s; the Lumumba University, Moscow; Nikita Khrushchev and the 1960 UN General Assembly; the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of Indonesia; the KGB in Chile in 1970; the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship in 1971; the Sino-Soviet struggle for influence in Indo-China; the GDR's South Africa policy; Soviet involvement in Ethiopia and Somalia; and the Soviet Union's intervention in Afghanistan.
Sozialismen. Entwicklungsmodelle von Lenin bis Nyerere. Hrsg. von Joachim Becker, [und] Rudy Weissenbacher. [Historische Sozialkunde/Internationale Entwicklung.] Promedia, Wien; Südwind, Wien [etc.] 2009. 234 pp. € 24.90.
In this volume about twentieth-century socialist development models and government practices, four chapters examine development models and economic and social development in the socialist states of eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, China, and North Korea; five others focus on countries with socialist orientations: Egypt, Syria, and Iraq; Tanganyika/Tanzania; Angola; and Mozambique and Chile. The volume opens with an “anatomy of socialisms” by Professor Becker and concludes with a chapter in which Michal Polák examines what is central to socialism, and which factors contributed to the gap between the original emancipatory ideas and reality.
Stuurman, Siep. De uitvinding van de mensheid. Korte wereldgeschiedenis van het denken over gelijkheid en cultuurverschil. Uitgeverij Bert Bakker, Amsterdam 2010. 572 pp. € 19.95.
This study is a concise world history of ideas about common humanity and equality in religious, philosophical, literary, and scientific writings from antiquity to the present, ranging from Europe to America, the Islamic world, and China. Professor Stuurman aims to show how throughout history world religions and philosophers, including the Enlightenment thinkers, have posited universalist notions of equality, usually in combination with ideas about the superiority of fellow believers or the like-minded. In his concluding chapter, the author argues that the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights was not simply an application of European Enlightenment ideas but reflected genuine global ideas on equality.
COMPARATIVE HISTORY
Badran, Amneh Daoud. Zionist Israel and Apartheid South Africa. Civil society and peace building in ethnic-national states. [Routledge studies on the Arab-Israeli conflict, Vol. 6.] Routledge, London [etc.] 2010. xiii, 255 pp. £75.00.
In this comparative study of South Africa under the apartheid regime and Israel, both defined as ethnic-national states, Dr Badran examines the evolution of effective white protest in South Africa and explores the reasons why comparable movements with the same effect have not emerged in Israel. Apart from the similarities between both groups and the context in which they operated, the biggest difference, according to the author, is that whereas the South African white protest groups embraced the vision of a non-racial, democratic state, the Jewish Israeli protest groups continue to support an exclusively Jewish state.
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES
Bergmann, Theodor. Internationalismus im 21. Jahrhundert. Lernen aus Niederlagen. Für eine neue internationale Solidarität. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2009. 250 pp. € 19.80.
In this book Professor Bergmann seeks to explain the decline of the international solidarity that, according to the author, has characterized the modern socialist labour movement from its beginnings in the nineteenth century. He provides an historical overview and an assessment of internationalism in the socialist labour movement, explores the problems and challenges faced by the present international labour movement and argues in favour of devising a new socialist internationalism that reflects the heterogeneity of revolutionary movements worldwide and a Marxism that caters to the present.
Labour and Employment in a Globalising World. Autonomy, Collectives and Political Dilemmas. Ed. by Christian Azaïs. Peter Lang, Brussels [etc.] 2010. 273 pp. € 31.90; £29.00; $47.95. (E-book: € 31.90; £29.00; $47.95.)
In this multidisciplinary collection of twelve essays about labour and employment market globalization, based on four workshops at a sociology conference held in Stockholm in 2005, three articles investigate how labour market policies have changed in Brazil, Scandinavia, and Switzerland, respectively; two articles focus on interactions between firms and trade unions in Brazil and in France; and seven articles address concrete experiences of autonomy at work, placing them in the context of contemporary capitalism. The cases described in this section refer to the United States, France, Italy, Brazil, and Germany.
Continents and Countries
AFRICA
Krüger, Gesine. Schrift – Macht – Alltag. Lesen und Schreiben im kolonialen Südafrika. Böhlau Verlag, Köln [etc.] 2009. 363 pp. € 44.90.
In this study, based on her Habilitationsschrift (University of Hanover, 2002), Professor Krüger explores the development and dissemination of literacy among Africans in colonial southern Africa in the period 1830–1930, and the role of reading and writing in daily life. The author concludes that literacy was far more common and played a larger role than hitherto understood. She also aims to show that literacy not only served as a means of control for the colonial regime but also enabled Africans to criticize the colonial regime and establish connections and relations across greater distances.
Zanzibar
Burgess, G. Thomas. Race, revolution, and the struggle for human rights in Zanzibar. The memoirs of Ali Sultan Issa and Seif Sharif Hamad. Ohio University Press, Athens 2009. xii, 333 pp. Ill. £28.00.
The Zanzibari revolution of 1964 ended 150 years of Arab and south Asian economic and cultural hegemony in Zanzibar. A new African nationalist regime adopted socialism and transformed privileged minorities into second-class citizens. From a series of personal interviews conducted between 1996 and 2006, Professor Burgess has compiled two first-person narratives, in which two Zanzibar nationalists tell their life stories. Representing two arguments, for and against the revolution, both memoirs reveal how people in Zanzibar continue to dispute their revolutionary legacy and remain divided over issues of memory, identity, and whether to remain a part of Tanzania.
AMERICA
Land of Necessity. Consumer Culture in the United States–Mexico Borderlands. Ed. by Alexis McCrossen. Duke University Press, Durham [etc.] 2009. xix, 414 pp. Ill £17.99.
In this richly illustrated volume, historians and anthropologists explore consumer culture in the US–Mexican borderlands, with an emphasis on the role of necessity, rather than affluence. The introduction by the editor and two opening essays deal with the longer historical trajectories of consumer culture and borderlands, while the other contributions explore subjects like smuggling, tourist districts and resorts, purchasing power, living standards, and circulation of goods and people, and topics like home décor, housing, and urban development.
Mobilidade social. Em sociedades coloniais e pós-coloniais. Brasil e Paraguai, séculos XVIII e XIX. Org. Tacísio R. Botelho, and Marco H.D. van Leeuwen. Veredas & Cenários, Belo Horizonte 2009. 228 pp. R$ 37.00.
The aim of this volume is to present a representative picture of social mobility in two South American countries where ethnicity is an important aspect of society. It contains five case studies, the first of which examines manumissions in a parish in Minas Gerais; the next traces the career of the son of a former Brazilian slave who became a priest; the third focuses on manumission and social mobility in Campos dos Goitacazes, Rio de Janeiro; and the fourth on social mobility and occupation in Porto Feliz, São Paulo, in the nineteenth century. The fifth contribution is a study (in Spanish) of ethnic identity and social mobility in Paraguay.
Shantz, Jeff. Living Anarchy. Theory and Practice in Anarchist Movements. Academica Press, Bethesda [etc.] 2009. 221 pp. $39.95.
Dr Shantz analyses in this “autoethnography” the contemporary anarchist movement in North America, using as examples several detailed case studies of organizational practices in the broader movement, based on his own experiences as an activist in these practices. Theoretically engaging the works of anarchists like Colin Ward, Paul Goodman, and Gustav Landauer, the author explores the everyday background of the rise of anarchist movements and practices in the past decade, focusing on “do-it-yourself” community-based social and political movements, such as the “black blocs”, anarchist street reclaiming, and communication projects.
White, Ashli. Encountering Revolution. Haiti and the Making of the Early Republic. [Early America. History, Context, Culture.] Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2010. ix, 267 pp. Ill. £28.50.
The Haitian Revolution, from 1791 to 1804, caused a flow of Saint-Dominguan white and mixed-race refugees to the young United States. This study examines American responses to these refugees, and explores how the Haitian Revolution shaped the United States by forcing the young federal republic to confront the paradox of republican principles of freedom that the Americans shared with the Haitian revolutionaries and the institution of slavery that constituted a large part of American society. See also Keila Grinberg's review in this volume, pp. 123–125.
Argentina
Guy, Donna J. Women Build the Welfare State. Performing Charity and Creating Rights in Argentina, 1880–1955. Duke University Press, Durham [etc.] 2009. 252 pp. Ill. £ 59.00. (Paper: £ 14.99.)
This study examines the origins and rise of the Argentinian welfare state between 1880 and the fall of the Juan Péron government in 1955 from the perspective of the complex relationships between female philanthropic groups and feminists in their advocacy of child-welfare programmes and family-law reforms. Comparing the rise of Argentina's welfare state with the developments in other countries, Professor Guy aims to show strong continuities in Argentinian welfare state history, with the rise of a liberal state subsidizing all kinds of women's and religious groups that organized child-centred welfare.
Cuba
Randall, Margaret. To Change the World. My Years in Cuba. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick [etc.] 2009. ix, 273 pp. Ill. £55.08.
This book is not a scholarly analysis of Cuban politics or economics but the personal story of the eleven years the feminist poet, writer, photographer, and social activist, Margaret Randall, spent in Cuba from 1969 to 1980, working, raising children, and participating in the revolution. This memoir, in which she highlights the position of Cuban women, is dedicated to the memory of Haydée Santamaría, one of the two women involved in the 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks.
Mexico
Scheuzger, Stephan. Der Andere in der Ideologischen Vorstellungskraft. Die Linke und die indigene Frage in Mexiko. [Editionen der Iberoamericana. Serie C: Geschichte und Gesellschaft, Band 12.] Vervuert Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2009. 889 pp. Ill. € 80.00.
This book studies how the Mexican left, at the intersection of socialist ideology and fixed representations of the ethnic “other”, viewed the indigenous issue in the twentieth century. Drawing on interviews and works of art as well as on archival resources and periodicals, the author examines Mexican varieties of indigenism, and key concepts such as incorporation, integration, and self-determination in academic, political, and cultural contexts, for example in the work of artists such as Diego Rivera.
Smith, Benjamin T. Pistoleros and Popular Movements. The Politics of State Formation in Postrevolutionary Oaxaca. [The Mexican Experience.] University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln [etc.] 2009. xiv, 578 pp. € 25.99.
In this study of the political formation of the Mexican state at the Oaxaca regional level in the post-revolutionary period between the 1920s and the early 1950s, Professor Smith argues that “the overarching process of state formation emerged not only from the process of unionization, co-option, and repression but also through the dynamic, diverse, and complex relationships between federal and state bureaucrats, semiautonomous caciques, diverse ethnic groups, and contentious independent social movements”. This kaleidoscopic nature of state formation was enhanced by strong variations in chronology and geography within the state of Oaxaca.
Smith, Stephanie J. Gender and the Mexican Revolution. Yucatán Women and the Realities of Patriarchy. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill 2009. xi, 257 pp. £49.12.
Drawing on court records and other documents from the Yucatán state archive, Professor Smith examines in this book the position of women in the Mexican Revolution, in particular during the revolutionary years 1915–1918 and 1922–1924. She argues that although Yucatán policy makers professed allegiance to women's rights, they, too, passed laws and condoned legal practices that excluded women from equal participation and reinforced their inferior status. Despite the intervention of women at many levels of Yucatecan society, the definition of women's social roles as those of wives and mothers kept substantial gains out of reach for most women.
United States of America
Ariovich, Laura. Organizing the Organized. Trade Union Renewal, Organizational Change and Worker Activism in Metropolitan America. [Trade Unions Past, Present and Future, Vol. 10.] Peter Lang, Oxford 2010. vi, 300 pp. € 44.40.
This edited version of a dissertation (Northwestern University, 2007) studies a successful example of the “organizing local approach” to trade-union renewal, in which union relationships with external actors, internal structures, use of resources, and members’ and leaders’ contributions are all directed towards member recruitment. Using participant observation and interviews, Dr Ariovich analyses how, against the backdrop of a declining labour movement, this particular local (fictitiously named “Local Z”) succeeded in recruiting workers and in keeping its members engaged.
Blewett, Mary H. The Yankee Yorkshireman. Migration Lived and Imagined. [Studies of World Migrations.] University of Illinois Press, Urbana [etc.] 2009. xv, 208 pp. £60.00.
Professor Blewett in this study takes the fiction writings of the Yorkshire-born Hedley Smith (1909–1994) as a point of departure for exploring the experiences of Yorkshire immigrant culture in the New England textile industry in a transnational context. Through her analysis of the fictional depiction of a mill village in Rhode Island by Smith, together with empirical data on working-class lives both in Yorkshire and in New England, the author aims to show how migration often involved resistance and refusal to assimilate to the receiving society.
Callahan, Richard J. Work and Faith in the Kentucky Coal Fields. Subject to Dust. [Religion in North America.] Indiana University Press, Bloomington [etc.] 2009. xv, 259 pp. Ill. $34.95.
Drawing on oral histories, folklore, and written sources, Professor Callahan in this book studies white coal miners’ communities and their distinctive religious culture in early twentieth-century eastern Kentucky. He follows miners and their families from subsistence farming to industrial coal mining, explores religious expressions that emerged from the specific experiences of coal mining, and traces efforts to organize the miners. He shows, for example, how competing trade unions, such as the National Miners’ Union and the United Mine Workers of America, experienced both success and failure in their attempts to organize mine workers.
Cohen, Robert. Freedom's Orator. Mario Savio and the Radical Legacy of the 1960s. Oxford University Press, Oxford [etc.] 2009. xiv, 512 pp. Ill. $34.95.
This is a biography of Mario Savio (1942–1996), the charismatic leader of Berkeley's Free Speech Movement, who helped introduce forms of non-violent protest to the struggle for free speech and academic freedom on American campuses. Drawing on the previously unavailable Savio papers and oral histories from friends and fellow movement leaders, this book also covers Savio's involvement in the civil rights movement, his campaigns for immigrant rights and affirmative action, and his activism against “Reaganite Imperialism” in Central America and the corporatization of higher education. The volume includes twelve of Savio's speeches and writings.
Glickman, Lawrence B. Buying Power. A History of Consumer Activism in America. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago [etc.] 2009. xix, 403 pp. Ill. $45; £31.
Taking the Boston Tea Party as his starting point, Professor Glickman in this book about consumption and citizenship argues that the rejection of British imports by revolutionaries ushered in a series of consumer boycotts, campaigns for safe and ethical consumption, and efforts to make goods more broadly accessible. He explores abolitionist-led efforts to eschew slave-made goods, African-American consumer campaigns against Jim Crow, a 1930s boycott of silk from fascist Japan and movements such as “fair trade” and “slow food”, aiming to shed a new light on the relationship between consumption and politics.
Hamington, Maurice. The Social Philosophy of Jane Addams. University of Illinois Press, Urbana [etc.] 2009. x, 226 pp. $50.00.
This book studies the social philosophy of the American feminist, internationalist, pioneer social worker, and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Jane Addams. Concentrating on her theoretical work but also drawing on her lived experiences, Professor Hamington explores Addams's contribution to epistemology, ethics, and feminist theory. He discusses Addams's influences, her type of feminism, and her analytical perspective (which she, as an American pragmatist, described as “sympathetic knowledge”) and investigates how Addams applied her social philosophy to issues of politics, women's rights, prostitution, business ethics, education, and religion.
Haverty-Stacke, Donna T. America's Forgotten Holiday. May Day and Nationalism, 1867–1960. [American History and Culture.] New York University Press, New York [etc]. 2009. x, 303 pp. Ill. $45.00.
In this history of May Day in the United States, Professor Haverty-Stacke focuses on how this holiday relates to the cultural construction of American national identity. Introduced in 1886 by the American labour movement to launch the demand for eight-hour workdays and claimed by American radicals, most notably anarchists, socialists, and communists, its existence, decline and eclipse, according to the author, shed new light on the nature of American national identity, and on how it developed in dialogue with political radicals and workers.
Sidorick, Daniel. Condensed Capitalism. Campbell Soup and the Pursuit of Cheap Production in the Twentieth Century. Cornell University Press, Ithaca [etc.] 2009. 300 pp. Ill. $29.95; £16.50.
This history of the Campbell Soup Company and its workers, from 1869 to 1990, is also a broader exploration of strategies that companies have used to keep costs down, in addition to moving factories to areas where production costs, notably labour, are lower than in company home towns. Focusing on the soup plants in Camden, New Jersey, Professor Sidorick reveals Campbell's techniques and strategies for curtailing production costs and workers’ militancy, while staying in its original location: lean production, flexible labour sourcing, and uncompromising anti-unionism.
ASIA
China
Ba Jin, un écrivain du peuple au pays de Jean de la Fontaine. Sous la dir. de Christiane Sinnig-Haas. Musée Jean de la Fontaine, Château-Thierry 2009. 214 pp. Ill. € 12.00.
Ba Jin (1904–2005), the famous Chinese writer, attacked during the Cultural Revolution but later rehabilitated, was in his youth an anarchist who translated works by Kropotkin and corresponded with Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman, Max Nettlau, and other prominent anarchists. This richly illustrated volume, published in honour of Ba Jin, presents extracts (in French and Chinese) from Ba Jin's famous autobiographical novel, Family, reflections by Ba Jin on Château-Thierry, the town where he attended a secondary school named after La Fontaine, a short biography of Ba Jin, and a reflection on “his” museum of modern Chinese literature.
Chan, Anita, Richard Madsen, and Jonathan Unger. Chen Village Revolution to Globalization. Third edition. University of California Press, Berkeley [etc.] 2009. viii, 408 pp. Ill. £13.50.
Based mainly on interviews, this is a sociological study of Chen Village and the changes this southern Chinese community underwent between 1960 and 2007. The first two editions of this book, published in 1984 and 1992, recorded villagers’ experiences under Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. New research conducted in 2006 and 2007 revealed that this once rural community has been transformed into a centre of China's export industry, where more than 50,000 workers now labour in modern factories, ruled by the village government.
India
Strahorn, Eric A. An Environmental History of Postcolonial North India. The Himalayan Tarai in Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal. [Postcolonial Studies, Vol. 2.] Peter Lang, New York [etc.] 2009. x, 168 pp. € 43.80.
At the time of India's independence in 1947 the tarai region of Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal in north India was a land of swamps, forests, and grassland, a territory known as the home of tigers and malaria-spreading mosquitoes. By 1975 the tarai had been transformed by a process of land reclamation, agricultural colonization, wildlife conservation, and disease control. In this study of the tarai region Dr Strahorn examines the social process of accelerated land use as it has been affected by political and epidemiological factors, with particular attention to the shifting representations of the landscape.
AUSTRALIA AND OCEANIA
Australia
Babidge, Sally. Aboriginal Family and the State. The Conditions of History. [Anthropology and Cultural History in Asia and the Indo-Pacific.] Ashgate, Farnham [etc.] 2010. xix, 269 pp. £60.00.
Based on fieldwork and archival research, this anthropological study explores the kinship practices and history of indigenous families in rural north Queensland, in connection with issues of government control and recent official recognition of Aboriginal “traditional owners” of land. The author examines how kinship works as a means of survival through the mobilization of kin ties, between as well as within households, and how this process influences the patterns of affiliation that emerge through native title claims.
EUROPE
Callahan, Kevin J. Demonstration Culture. European Socialism and the Second International, 1889-1914. Troubadour Publishing, Kibworth Beauchamp 2010. xxxii, 324 pp. £24.95.
The author of this book aims to explain why international socialism was able to emerge, persist, and thrive as a political and social movement before 1914. His central thesis is that the Second International overcame internal disunity and external obstacles by developing a new style of political culture and communication centred on “mass-based demonstration”, such as manifestos, congress resolutions and mass rallies. See also Stefan Berger's review in this volume, pp. 116–117.
Geschichte der Arbeitsmärkte. Erträge der 22. Arbeitstagung der Gesellschaft für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte 11. bis 14. April 2007 in Wien. Hrsg. Rolf Walter. [Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, Beihefte Nr. 199.] Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2009. 418 pp. Ill. € 78.00.
The twelve papers and nine comments in this volume are the proceedings of the conference of the Gesellschaft für Sozial- und Wirtschaft, held in April 2007 in Vienna, on the history of labour markets from the medieval period to the present, with a special focus on Austria. Apart from Austrian case studies, comparative contributions on labour markets in twentieth-century western European industrial states (Christoph A. Rass), and on Austrian and German social partnership (Jürgen Nautz) are included.
Social Care under State Socialism (1945–1989). Ambitions, Ambiguities, and Mismanagement. Ed. by Sabine Hering. Barbara Budrich Publishers, Opladen [etc.] 2009. 268 pp. € 28.00.
This volume brings together eighteen contributions about social work in eight countries belonging to the “eastern bloc” between 1944 and 1989. The authors examine the development of social work, family policies, and the education of Pioneer troop leaders in Bulgaria; Czechoslovakia's social security system; social welfare in the German Democratic Republic (including penal laws against “asocials” and “parasites”); social policy and child care in Hungary; social policy and gender in Poland; social policy and child protection in Romania; welfare and maternity care in the Soviet Union; and social policy and social work in the former Yugoslavia.
The Social Question and Adult Education. European Perspectives in the 19th and 20th Centuries. La question sociale et l’éducation des adultes. Perspectives européennes, XIXe-XXe siècles. Ed. by Barry J. Hake [and] Francoise F. Laot. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main [etc.] 2009. xxiv, 208 pp. € 39.70.
This volume, based on a seminar held in Paris in June 2006 about working-class education and the “social question”, contains eleven essays that examine themes such as access to education, vocational training, adult education, and the roles of trade unions, the Church, and the state in the organization of adult education in France, Catalonia, Sweden, Finland, Poland, and East Germany.
Strangers and Poor People. Changing Patterns of Inclusion and Exclusion in Europe and the Mediterranean World from Classical Antiquity to the Present Day. Ed. by Andreas Gestrich, Lutz Raphael, and Herbert Uerlings. [Inklusion/Exklusion, Band 13.] Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main [etc.] 2009. 615 pp. Ill. € 90.50
This volume in a series of studies on social inclusion in societies of Europe and the Mediterranean world since antiquity (see IRSH, 51 (2006), p. 508; 54 (2009), pp. 549ff.; 55 (2010), p. 357 for previous volumes) explores the fundamental dimensions of the self-concepts of societies and social groups. The twenty-five articles focus on five main research areas: the theoretical concepts of inclusion and exclusion; the rights of membership and the inclusion of strangers in political spaces; the religious dimensions of poor relief; poor law and the politics of poverty; and the semantics of inclusion and exclusion.
Croatia
Petrungaro, Stefano. Pietre e fucili. La protesta sociale nelle campagne croate di fine Ottocento. [Interadria. Culture dell'Adriatico, vol. 13.] Viella, Roma 2009. 309 pp. Ill. € 30.00.
Focusing on the popular disturbances that took place in 1897 in the Croatian countryside in an area that had been part of the recently demilitarized military borderlands (Confine militare or Vojna krajina) of the Habsburg monarchy, the author investigates what the effects were of the demilitarization, and how the rural population responded to processes of state- and nation-building and the democratization of society.
Czechoslovakia
1948 and 1968. Dramatic Milestones in Czech and Slovak History. Ed. by Laura Cashman. [Routledge Europe-Asia Studies.] Routledge, Abingdon [etc.] 2010. ix, 210 pp. € 80.00.
This volume, based on a conference held in Glasgow in April 2008 to commemorate the anniversaries of the establishment of communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1948 and the Prague Spring of 1968, brings together eleven essays by witnesses, historians, and social scientists, presenting new and original research based on information from archives opened only after 1990. The contributors cover themes ranging from political intrigue to social history and from film and literature to philosophy, offering a reappraisal of the events of 1948 and 1968.
Eire – Ireland
Gray, Peter. The Making of the Irish Poor Law, 1815–43. Manchester University Press, Manchester [etc.] 2009. x, 380 pp. £65.00.
In this book Professor Gray examines the debates preceding and surrounding the 1838 Irish Poor Law Act on the nature of Irish poverty and the related responsibilities of society. He traces the various campaigns for a poor law from the late eighteenth century, analyses the nature and internal frictions of the great Irish poor inquiry of 1833–1836, along with the policy recommendations made by its chair, Archbishop Whately. He considers the aims and limitations of the government's measure, public reaction to it in Ireland and Britain, and the implementation of the Poor Law between 1838 and 1843.
France
Caron, Jean-Claude. Frères de sang. La guerre civile en France au XIXe siècle. [Chose publique.] Champ Vallon, Seyssel 2009. 305 pp. € 25.00.
In the nineteenth century France was frequently torn apart by civil strife, for example during the June insurrection of 1848 and the Paris Commune. Focusing on the period from the Restoration to the Commune, with small digressions into symbolic civil wars such as the Dreyfus affair, Professor Caron in this book examines how historians, philosophers, sociologists, military scientists, and novelists have dealt with the notion of civil war and explores how this notion dominated French political discourse, both in parliament and in journalism, and how it was used to create fear and to discredit opponents.
Coquery-Vidrovitch, Catherine. Enjeux politiques de l'histoire coloniale. Agone, Marseille 2009. 190 pp. € 14.00.
The aim of this book is to contribute to the discussion about the question as to whether the history of colonization and French colonial slavery is an integral part of France's historical and cultural legacy. After an introductory chapter defining the colonial issue, Professor Coquery-Vidrovitch addresses themes such as the historiography of the French colonial past, postcolonialism, the colonial past as a political issue, and colonial and contemporary racism. She argues that examining European history without considering its colonial history would be a mistake.
Da Costa, Gaston. Mémoires d'un communard. 18 mars–28 mai 1871. La Commune vécue. Édition préfacée et annotée par Alain Fillion. Larousse, s.l. 2009. 383 pp. Ill. € 25.00.
On 27 June 1871, Gaston da Costa was sentenced to death for having participated in the Paris Commune. After this sentence was commuted to lifelong hard labour, Da Costa was sent to the penal colony of New Caledonia. Here he embarked upon his magnum opus, a history of the Commune. After being pardoned in 1880, he returned to France, where he completed his book. This is an abridged version of his work, which was published in three volumes in 1903, and to which the editor has added notes, photographs, maps, biographies of key figures, and a timeline.
Pudal, Bernard. Un monde défait. Les communistes français de 1956 à nos jours. [Collection savoir/agir de l'association Raisons d'agir.] Éditions du Croquant, Bellecombe-en-Bauges 2009. 215 pp. € 18.50.
This volume about the decline of the Parti Communiste Français (PCF) is a collection of previously published and partly reworked essays on the party's evolution. The seven chapters examine the party's intellectual crisis from 1956 to 1978; the relationship between the PCF and Louis Althusser; the party's response to the events of May 1968; intellectual and strategic “adjustment” in the careers of communists; the disenchantment and confusion of former communists; and the PCF under party secretary Robert Hue. In the final chapter Professor Pudal comments on the relationship between communism and popular political awareness.
Quashie-Vauclin, Guillaume. L'Union de la Jeunesse Républicaine de France 1945–1956. Entre organisation de masse de jeunesse et mouvement d'avant-garde communiste. Publié avec le concours de la Fondation Gabriel-Péri. L'Harmattan, Paris 2009. 264 pp. € 24.00.
Based on a master's thesis (University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, 2008), this is a study of the little researched Union de la jeunesse républicaine de France (UJRF), which with its 250,000 members in 1945 was probably the largest political youth movement ever in France, larger than the better-known Fédération nationale des jeunesses communistes de France. The author traces how the UJRF oscillated between being a mass youth organization with little political involvement and a communist avant-garde movement until its liquidation by the PCF in 1956. The book's five chapters conclude with “case studies”, vignettes highlighting specific local and regional situations.
Romo-Navarrete, Maria. Pierre Mendès France. Héritage colonial et indépendances. Préface de Jean-François Sirinelli. [Mondes Contemporains.] Presses de l'université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris 2009. 459 pp. Ill. Maps. € 25.00.
Pierre Mendès France headed the French government from 18 June 1954 to 4 February 1955, during which period he had to deal with colonial problems such as the war in Indo-China and the Algerian War. Largely based on a doctoral dissertation (University of Paris-Sorbonne 2006), this book studies Mendès France's views on colonial policy, in particular how he attempted to reconcile his liberal convictions with his defence of the French Republic and its colonial heritage.
Sage, Elizabeth M. A Dubious Science. Political Economy and the Social Question in 19th-Century France. [Studies in Modern European History, Vol. 65.] Peter Lang, New York, [etc.] 2009. x, 170 pp. € 44.50.
This book is about nineteenth-century French political economy, an academic discipline that aspired to the status and authority of a “hard” science alongside such disciplines as physics and chemistry. Professor Sage chronicles the political economists’ encounter with la question sociale, explores the relationship between the unexpected socio-economic realities of an industrializing society and the disciplinary formation of an aspiring human science, and links the history of the discipline of nineteenth-century French political economy to the broader subject of governmentality, i.e. strategies and programmes designed to gather information about populations and individuals in order to manage and control them.
Le syndicalisme révolutionnaire, la Charte d'Amiens et l'autonomie ouvrière. Volume préparé par Miguel Chueca. Éditions CNT, Paris 2009. Ill. 271 pp. € 18.00.
This volume is based on a conference held in Saint-Denis in March 2006 to commemorate the centennial of the Charter of Amiens, which was adopted at the ninth congress of the Confédération générale du travail (CGT), in October 1906, and has been the main theoretical reference for French revolutionary syndicalism since then. It contains ten contributions, one about the Amiens congress, four about syndicalism in French history, four about syndicalism and the labour movement in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Brazil and one on the Charter. Reprinted texts by some of the protagonists of the events in Amiens fill seventy pages of the volume.
Tabeur, Jean. La province contre Paris! Les barricades du peuple, 1848–1871. [Chronique d'une histoire comparée, 2. Collection Campagnes & Stratégies.] Economica, Paris 2009. vii, 322 pp. Maps. € 29.00.
This is the second volume of a comparative history of violent insurrections in France. While the first volume was about the Vendée uprising during the French Revolution, this one covers the Revolution of 1848, the Second Republic and the Second Empire; the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the Siege of Paris, the Paris Commune, and the Commune's suppression. The author pays special attention to the local geographic and demographic circumstances of the fighting in Paris, and concludes that while the rural people of the Vendée fought for certain ideals, the people of Paris mounted the barricades in pursuit of social justice.
Germany
Gerhardt, Uta. Soziologie im zwanzigsten Jahrhundert. Studien zu ihrer Geschichte in Deutschland. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2009. 392 pp. € 42.00.
In this historical survey of twentieth-century sociology in Germany, Professor Gerhardt, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Heidelberg, has brought together six studies that focus on six discursive developments in consecutive periods. She examines how until the 1930s resistance to Social Darwinism brought about modern German sociology, which was then driven into exile by the rise of Nazism. Subsequent developments include the American influence during the first postwar years (during Stunde Null) and during the German division; critical sociology during the 1960s; and the most recent developments after the reunification.
Hoffmann, Dierk. Otto Grotewohl (1894–1964). Eine politische Biographie. Veröffentlichungen zur SBZ-/DDR-Forschung im Institut für Zeitgeschichte. [Quellen und Darstellungen zur Zeitgeschichte, Band 74.] R. Oldenbourg Verlag, München 2009. vii, 721 pp. Ill. € 69.80.
This Habilitationsschrift (University of Potsdam, 2009) is a political biography of the German socialist and first Prime Minister of the GDR, Otto Grotewohl (1894–1964). Dr Hoffmann aims to show how Grotewohl's key role in the history of Germany after 1945, with his crucial transformation from a critic to a supporter of the forced merge of the SPD and the KPD into the SED, may be understood only by taking into account his experiences as a social democrat politician during the Weimar period and as a political prisoner of the Nazi regime.
“Das Land ist still – noch!” Herrschaftswandel und politische Gegnerschaft in der DDR (1971–1989). Hrsg. Leonore Ansorg, Bernd Gehrke, Thomas Klein [u.a.]. [Zeithistorische Studien, Band 40.] Böhlau Verlag, Köln [etc.] 2009. 394 pp. € 49.90.
The sixteen contributions to this volume, based on a colloquium organized in May 2005 in Potsdam, explore developments in opposition and resistance in the GDR in the context of the changes in society and political culture as a whole during the 1970s and 1980s. Contributors aim to discover the similarities and differences in the social background of political opposition, as well as changes in governance techniques of the regime, by looking in part at opposition and resistance on the shopfloor and within the context of labour law.
Marx-Engels Jahrbuch 2008. Hrsg. Internationale Marx-Engels-Stiftung. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 2009. 190 pp. € 39.80.
This issue of the Marx-Engels Jahrbuch, an academic forum for discussions on Marx, contains contributions by Charles Reitz (Horace Greeley, Karl Marx and German 48ers), Ariane Fischer (about The German Ideology), Hendrik Wallat (on inversion in Karl Marx's ideas) and Kolja Lindner (on the publication history of Marx and Engels in France); news about Marx commemorations held in 2008; reviews of recent Marx literature and notes and corrections to the Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe (MEGA) volumes.
Power and Society in the GDR, 1961–1979. The ‘Normalisation of Rule’? Ed. by Mary Fulbrook. Berghahn Books, New York, 2009. viii, 339 pp. £58.00.
The first six contributions to this volume explore the conditions for stabilization and “routinization” of political processes in the GDR, in international relations and in industry and agriculture, as well as in sports, popular culture, and Heimat culture, all demonstrating the significance of the intermediary roles of mid-level functionaries. The six contributions in the volume's second section examine whether subjective perceptions and norms are shown through internalization, outward behavioural conformity, or contestation, for example in an article on the socialist education system. The concept of normalization is defined by the editor in the opening chapter.
Ruhl, Andreas. Stalin-Kult und Rotes Woodstock. Die Weltjugendfestspiele 1951 und 1973 in Ostberlin. [Wissenschaftliche Beiträge aus dem Tectum Verlag. Reihe Geschichtswissenschaft, Band 7.] Tectum Verlag, Marburg 2009. 109 pp. € 24.90.
In this detailed account of the two World Festivals of Youth and Students organized in East Berlin in 1951 and 1973, the author argues that the 1951 festival, heavily influenced by Stalinism and the Cold War, was viewed by the GDR leadership mainly as an opportunity to consolidate Germany's east–west divide. The 1973 edition of the festival, known as Red Woodstock and featuring rock music and political debates, reflected the contemporary détente politics. Comparing the two festivals, however, the author concludes that both events mainly served GDR propaganda and historiography.
A Sixteenth-Century Book of Trades. Das Ständebuch. Translated, with an introd. by Theodore K. Rabb. The Society for the Promotion of Science and Scholarship. Palo Alto (Calif.) 2009. L, 229 pp. Ill. £50.00.
This is the first English edition of the famous Ständebuch, the Book of Trades, a book of doggerel verse by the German Meistersinger, poet, and playwright Hans Sachs (1494–1576), illustrated with famous woodcuts by Jost Amman (1539–1591). It depicts a random selection of 114 ranks and trades, including the Pope and the King, as well as many artisanal trades, and professions, all limited to early modern urban society. Professor Rabb deals in his introduction with the complex publication history of this very popular book and analyses some of the implications for the social and cultural history of city life in Renaissance Germany.
Stude, Sebastian. Die friedliche Revolution 1989/90 in Halle/Saale. Ereignisse, Akteure und Hintergründe. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main [etc.] 2009. 209 pp. € 27.90.
This book, based on an M.A. thesis (Humboldt University of Berlin, 2006), focuses on the “peaceful revolution” in the East German provincial capital Halle/Saale. Using archival documents from both private and public collections, the author reconstructs the events of 1989–1990, examining the peace, environmental, and human rights movements, identifying key figures, and revealing the motives of both the protest movements and the SED leadership. Drawing on Hannah Arendt's work and using the example of Halle/Saale, the author also examines whether the events of 1989 and 1990 can be understood as a revolution.
Great Britain
Allen, Robert C. The British Industrial Revolution in global perspective. [New approaches to economic and social history.] Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 2009. xi, 331 pp. £45.00; $85.00. (Paper: £16.99; $27.99.)
In this new study examining the classical question as to why the Industrial Revolution took place in eighteenth-century Britain and not elsewhere, Professor Allen argues that in Britain wage levels were high and capital and energy cheap, compared with other countries in Europe and Asia. The breakthrough technologies (the steam engine, the cotton mill, and the substitution of coal for wood in metal production) were therefore uniquely profitable to invent and use in Britain, while the high-wage economy in pre-industrial Britain fostered schooling and apprenticeships and thus industrial development as well.
Chater, Kathleen. Untold Histories. Black people in England and Wales during the period of the British slave trade, c.1660–1807. Manchester University Press, Manchester [etc.] 2009. 272 pp. Ill. £60.00.
This is a detailed study of the experiences of black persons in England and Wales during the period of the British slave trade. Drawing on a database of her own design and using standard genealogical techniques to reconstruct individual lives, Dr Chater offers information about black people's sex ratios, ages, origins, and their treatment by the criminal justice system. In addition to statistical data, she presents the life stories of ordinary individuals and shows how they integrated into English society as tradesmen, entertainers, or government officials, challenging conventional assumptions that they were enslaved, stigmatized outsiders.
Consumerism and the Co-operative Movement in Modern British History. Taking Stock. Ed. by Lawrence Black and Nicole Robertson. Manchester University Press, Manchester [etc.] 2009. xiv, 264 pp. £60.00.
The fourteen chapters in this volume explore various themes in the history of the cooperative movement and that of consumerism, for example, the postwar decline of the British retail cooperative movement; consumer protection; ethical and fair trading alternatives to corporate commerce; design and advertising; the cooperative movement's relations with sections of the labour movement; the Women's Cooperative Guild and the anti-war movement; and the “Coop's” ideology, image, and memory. Chronologically ranging from the nineteenth century to the present day, the collection examines the cooperative movement locally, nationally, and in comparison with cooperatives in other European countries.
Eagles, Stuart. After Ruskin. The Social and Political Legacies of a Victorian Prophet, 1870–1920. [Oxford Historical Monographs.] Oxford University Press, Oxford [etc.] 2011. xii, 304 pp. £60.00.
This study is about the social and political influence of the influential Victorian art and social critic John Ruskin (1819–1900). Exploring the histories of the Guild of St George and the Ruskin societies, the university settlements and the early Labour Party, Dr Eagles traces how Ruskin inspired leading activists and thinkers to help reform Britain's social and political culture between 1870 and 1920. He argues that the value of Ruskin's specific proposals was less important than his opposition to modern industrial capitalism and the ideology that reinforced it.
Robertson, Nicole. The Co-operative Movement and Communities in Britain, 1914–1960. Minding Their Own Business. [Studies in Labour History.] Ashgate, Farnham 2010. 251 pp. Ill. £55.00.
This study explores the British cooperative movement and its members, and its association with various communities, in the period 1914–1960. Dr Robertson focuses on the ways in which cooperative retail societies aimed to serve the community life of towns and cities, not only in terms of providing shopping facilities and the impact they had on shopping habits, but also more broadly through their work in consumer protection and their political and educational activities. See also Mary Hilson's review in this volume, pp. 118–120.
Ryden, David Beck. West Indian Slavery and British Abolition, 1783–1807. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [etc.] 2009. xvii, 332 pp. $84.00. (Paper: $28.00.)
In this book Professor Ryden examines the economic arguments against slavery and the slave trade that were employed in the writings of Britain's most important abolitionists. Challenging commonly held views regarding the political and economic motives behind the ultimate decision to abolish the British slave trade in 1807, he argues that the faltering sugar economy after 1799 tipped the scales in favour of the abolitionist argument and helped secure the passage of abolition. Two other themes of the book are the declining political influence of the planter class, and the role of slaves in efforts to shape their own destiny.
Italy
Bordiga, Amadeo. Mai la merce sfamerà l'uomo. La questione agraria e la teoria della rendita fondiaria secondo Marx. Introd. e cura di Rita Caramis. Odradek, Roma 2009. lviii, 282 pp. € 24.00.
In 1953 and 1954 Amadeo Bordiga (1889–1870), one of the founders of the Italian Communist Party, from which he was later expelled, published a series of fifteen essays about the agrarian question and Marx's theory of ground rent in Il programma comunista, the organ of the oppositional Partito comunista internazionalista. These articles were published in one volume in 1979 by Iskra edizioni. The present volume is a new edition of that collection, with some additional notes, an updated bibliography, and a substantial new introduction.
Bruno Trentin. Tra il Partito d'Azione e il Partito Comunista. Gli anni dell'Università di Padova, 1943–1949. Con la tesi di laurea e una lettera inedita a Gaetano Salvemini. A cura di Iginio Ariemma. Ediesse, Roma 2009. 237 pp. (Incl. CD-Rom.) € 15.00.
Based on a conference held in Padua in October 2008, this volume is devoted to the student years of Bruno Trentin (1926–2007), the Italian resistance fighter and general secretary of the communist General Confederation of Labour (CGIL) from 1988 to 1994. The thesis with which Trentin graduated from the University of Padua Law School (“La funzione del giudizio di equità nella crisi giuridica contemporanea [con particolare riferimento all'esperienza giuridica Americana]”) is published here for the first time. The volume also includes reflections on Trentin's significance and three letters by Trentin. The accompanying DVD features documents from Trentin's university years.
Mancini, Michele. La società operaia di San Martino in Pensilis nel contesto della realtà locale e regionale (1879–2009). Centrotrenta anni di presenza attiva nel mondo del lavoro, nel nome della solidarietà e dell'uguaglianza tra gli uomini. Palladino Editore, Campobasso 2009. 486 pp. € 25.00.
In this book the author tells the story of the Mutual Aid Society (of which he has been President and Vice President) of his home town (of which he is the Mayor). He begins his narrative with a 160-page review of the economic and social history of San Martino in Pensilis, a small town in the agricultural Italian region of Molise, and goes on to describe the history of the society from its foundation in 1879, by the veterinary surgeon Nicola Ringoli, to the present day. The book includes a bibliography and an index of names.
Il processo sette aprile. Padova trent'anni dopo. Voci dalla “città degna”. Pref. Luca Casarini [e.a.] [Esplorazioni.] Manifestolibri, Roma 2009. 230 pp. € 18.00.
On 7 April 1979 the Marxist philosopher, Antonio Negri, was arrested along with others associated with the leftist movement Autonomia Operaia (Ivo Gallimberti, Alisa Del Re, Luciano Ferrari Bravo, and others) on charges of terrorism, including membership of the Red Brigades and involvement in organizing the kidnapping of Aldo Moro. This is a collection of interviews with and articles, memories, and reflections by these and more than thirty other key persons in the complex politico-legal process of “April the Seventh”.
Renda, Francesco. Storia del Primo Maggio. Dalle origini ai giorni nostri. Pref. Guglielmo Epifani. Ediesse, Roma 2009. 284 pp. € 15.00.
This is a history of May Day from its origins to the present day. In twenty-five chapters Professor Renda traces its role in the history of the international labour movement, starting with the origins of the proletariat, Robert Owen, and the struggle for the eight-hour day in the United States. Towards the end of the book the focus shifts to Italy. Chapters conclude with bibliographical references to classic Marxist works and secondary literature, all in Italian. The author of the preface was General Secretary of the CGIL trade-union federation from 2002 to 2010.
Sivini, Giordano. Il banchiere del papa e la sua miniera. Lotte operaie nel villaggio minerario di Cave del Predil. Il Mulino, Bologna 2009. 197 pp. € 20.00.
In 1956 the Italian Società Anonima Miniere Cave del Predil (RAIBL), one of Europe's largest zinc and lead mines, was taken over by the Pertusola Mining Company. When a group of managers from Sardinia was sent to introduce exploitative working conditions to the mines, they met with fierce and prolonged resistance from the miners. Based on extensive archival research, this book weaves together the histories of this struggle's protagonists: Bernardino Nogara, “the Pope's banker”, who sold the mines to Pertusola; the miners’ leader Guerrino Gabino; and Charles Algernon Moreing, the British mining tycoon who provided the money to develop the mines.
Russia – Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Attwood, Lynne. Gender and Housing in Soviet Russia. Private Life in a Public Space. [Gender in History.] Manchester University Press, Manchester [etc.] 2010. vi, 262 pp. £60.00.
Using Soviet magazines and journals designed for “ordinary” Russians, as well as interviews, Dr Attwood in this book explores the housing problem in Russian cities throughout the seventy years of Soviet history. She studies political ideology about appropriate forms of housing in a socialist society, government housing policies and the meaning of “home” for Soviet citizens, concentrating in particular on the interaction between the Soviet housing programme and gender relations, examining whether the authorities saw new forms of housing as a route to women's emancipation, and how different types of housing either challenged or reinforced gender stereotypes.
Healey, Dan. Bolshevik Sexual Forensics. Diagnosing Disorder in the Clinic and Courtroom, 1917–1939. Northern Illinois University Press, DeKalb 2009. x, 252 pp. Ill. $40.00.
In this history of Russian and Soviet forensic medicine confronting sexual disorder in the early Bolshevist state, Dr Healey explores the role played by medical specialists – most of them trained under the tsarist regime – in the Bolshevist “sexual revolution”. He concludes that Soviet medicine's physiological and biological model of sexual citizenship erased both the vision of sexual self-expression and equality between men and women.
Moss, Kenneth B. Jewish Renaissance in the Russian Revolution. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.) [etc.] 2009. x, 384 pp. Ill. £29.95; € 36.00; $39.95.
This study explores how between the February revolution of 1917 and the consolidation of Bolshevik power in 1919–1921 Jewish intellectuals in European Russia and Ukraine actively pursued ambitious programmes of Jewish cultural enrichment and renaissance. Professor Moss analyses why so many Jewish intellectuals felt compelled to pursue such a cultural renaissance at this political volatile moment in Russian history. He concludes that although many were actively involved in political revolutionary developments, they were still informed by nineteenth-century conceptions of “high culture”, and, while different in their political orientations, all were by definition cultural nationalists.
Spain
Anderson, Peter. The Francoist Military Trials. Terror and Complicity, 1939–1945. [Routledge/Cañada Blanch Studies on Contemporary Spain, Vol. 17.] Routledge, New York [etc.] 2010. x, 219 pp. Ill. £70.00.
In Spain between 1936 and 1945 the Franco regime carried out a brutal programme of mass repression. Many supporters of the republic were murdered by the regime's death squads and tens of thousands subjected to summary military trials. Drawing on trial records that have only recently become available, the author of this book examines the military trial system and particularly the complicity that lay behind the Francoist killings and incarcerations. He documents how ordinary Spaniards who had defended the republic fell victim to insubstantial and hostile testimony from embittered neighbours, and how grassroots Francoists continued harassing republicans, even after they were released from prison.
100 años de anarcosindicalismo [100 anys d'anarcosindicalisme]. Coord. Cristina Escrivà Moscardó y Rafael Maestre Marín. CGT [etc.], s.l. 2010. 206 pp. Ill. No price.
This catalogue of an exhibition commemorating the centenary of the anarcho-syndicalist trade union, Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (founded in Barcelona in 1910), presents images from newspapers, books, posters, and photographs documenting a century of anarcho-syndicalism in Spain, a chronology, a list of militant anarcho-syndicalists, and texts (in Spanish and Catalan) on the origins of anarcho-syndicalism; cultural practices in libertarian Spain; the anarcho-syndicalist press; women and anarcho-syndicalism; anarcho-syndicalism after 1976 and other topics in the history of Spanish anarcho-syndicalism.
